Mutton Curry

Ingredients 1/2 kg Mutton chops, 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 4 small
potatoes, 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste, Curry leaves 1-2 twig, Coriander
leaves quarter handful, 1 1/2 tsp Salt, 1 1/2 tsp Chili powder, 1/4
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder, 1-2 tsp Garam Masala.

Measurements: "1 tsp" is a medium piled spoon. "1 tsp full" is a
full spoon; add a grain more and it will overflow. "1 tsp flat" is
flat.

People it will serve 3

Utensils 1 shallow vessel - wrist depth, broad; for washing mutton,
hands, small utensils.  1 medium pressure cooker with rubber washer
and weight.  1 spoon for mixing ingredients and stirring.  Wooden
Board for cutting.  Dustbin.

Misc Notes:  Papaya can be used in the marinade as a tenderizer.
Pressure-cooking is quick, however if the chops are tender then the
meat will shrink and disappear. The correct way would be to use a
tenderizer and boil it over a slow flame.

Steps Wash the mutton twice in the shallow vessel. Dump the bloody
water in the bucket.  Add and mix the meat and masala (1tsp salt,
1tsp chili, 1tsp ginger-garlic paste, 1/4-1/2 tsp turmeric powder).
Leave it to marinate.

Skin and clean 4 potatoes - add them whole since they are small,
cut 2 onions and 2 tomatoes into 4 pieces, add a twig or two of
curry leaves (without the twig), add 1/2 the Coriander if cut and/or
garnish at the end. Add 1/2 a tsp of salt and 1/2 a tsp of chili
powder.  Fry the above mixture in 4 tbsp of groundnut or cooking
oil till brown.

Add mutton and above mixture to the cooker. Keep stirring. Heat on
a low flame for 2 minutes till the smell goes away. Place the lid
after making sure that the rubber gasket is fixed to the inside of
the lid. Place the weight.

Heat on a high flame till 2 whistles are up if the meat is tender.
3 - 4 whistles if it's tough. Lower the flame and let it simmer.
Total time for heating the meat should be 15 minutes.

13 responses total.

DO a lot of people in India now have pressure cookers?  My mother got one in
the 50s to do potroast by a recipe similar to the above.  No spices, and she
also added carrots.  How long have Indians been cooking American-origin
potatoes and tomatoes?

Hi Sindi, all my friends and all my relatives have pressure cookers. So does
our maid. I have been eating potatoes and tomatoes since childhood.
My grandma has been hogging them since my childhood. I don't know if she
ate them as a kid. I don't know what you mean by "American-origin.."
The stuff we eat is not genetically engineered. It's grown locally - in and
around Bangalore, which is where i stay. Hmm.. you mean "The Americas" -
potoatoes originally from Peru and Bolivia..I don't really know for how long
Indians as a race have been eating them..

Al Gore invented potatoes.  Dan Quayloes

Also of American origin are corn (maize), peanuts, peppers, squash, many dried
and fresh beans, quinoa, amaranth, turkeys.  I know peanuts are popular in
China, and corn is a famine food, but they don't seem to cook much with
tomatoes or peppers (tho American-Chinese restaurants use them along with
broccoli).  Is maize used much in India?  If so, how?

Corn or Monsanto's Frankenfood resembling corn?

If Monsanto is an American company, both.

Just spoke to mum; we use rice and wheat on a regular basis. Corn is used in
soups and puddings. Both raw corn and cornstarch.
Rice is king in India. Everyone eats it in some form or the other.
THe food is a lot spice'r than in the west - especially non veg; though like
most of the world it'a a matter of gene's when it comes to how spicy. Mum and
I prefer bland food unlike Dad and Sis.

I think that very spicey food is eaten and enjoyed by the poor..i remember
my cousins eating dinner with some farm labour :).

Do you use corn flour or corn meal as well?  Do you have a recipe for corn
soup?  We froze a lot last summer when a local farmer at the market was going
home and sold us a crate for $3 several times.  

I had to check on the wiki: corn meal - coarsely ground corn, corn starch -
endosperm of the corn, corn flour - powdered corn. No and No, we only use
corn-starch. Nope no recipe for corn soup. I could ask mum but since i haven't
eaten corn soup..well does chicken corn soup qualify :).

I've just started learning cooking so my recipe database stands at 1 as of
now. Well i can also manage coffee, tea and stuff, but that doesn't really
qualify.

Corn flour is used, especially in North India, to make makkai di roti (corn
flat bread), usually eaten with mustard greeens (sarson ka sag). Another form
of corn is roasted on the cob, and smeared with salt, chilli pepper and maybe
some other spices. Found on the streets of Bombay during corn season ( and
on Gerrard Street, here in Toronto). Corn is also boiled while on the cob and
used in curry (which is not curry in the western sense, it has a chickpea
flour base) - I think this is Sindhi cuisine. 

As for pressure cookers, they're used in a big way in Indian cooking. Usually
to cook lentils, which I don't understand. I can cook my lentils just fine
by boiling on a low flame for about 20 minutes. My mother didn't have a
pressure cooker for a long time, she never really knew how to work one, till
she inherited a really simple one from her father. She usually used it to cook
meat. Since I don't cook meat (husband's a vegetarian, and I'm not prone to
cooking just for myself), I think I can do fine without one. 

Pressure cookers take much less fuel.  Close them up, put on the weight, heat
to 5 or 15 lb, turn them off, wait for pressure to come down while cooking
other things.  Same for rice.

My room-mates a few years ago used the pressure cooker for everything. I
didn't notice much of a time change when I switched to a non-pressure
cooker method of cooking. Rice takes me 10 minutes to make with and
without the cooker. I can understand the cooker for meat though, it
tenderises much faster.

Brown rice is 45 min without the pressure cooker, beans up to 2 hours.  We
also do potatoes and carrots (but the microwave is equally fast).  My mother
only used her for potroast brisket with potatoes and carrots.

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